Area schools set to enter new era in education

San Gabriel Valley and Whittier-area schools are preparing to enter a new era in education.

Schools are moving from the California academic content standards to what educators call Common Core State Standards, a new set of academic standards for all schools nationwide. States currently use their own standards.

Teachers and administrators began learning the new standards last year, comparing them with the California standards. Some schools now are set to begin implementing portions of the new standards, which are scheduled to be fully in place in 2014-15.

"The idea is to have a more rigorous set of standards that demands more from kids," said Brian McDonald, the chief academic officer for the Pasadena Unified School District.

"It's geared toward helping us get kids ready for college and careers, and it's more aligned with 21st century type of learning," he said. "We're working on curriculum as we speak."

Educational standards, generally, describe what students should know and be able to do in each grade and in each subject. The new Common Core State Standards give all schools in the nation the same standards from kindergarten through high school - so they can get a good education even if they change schools or move to a new state.

The Common Core Standards also allow states and school districts to compare their results and copy the practices of successful schools, said McDonald.

The new standards will transform how schools approach the process of education, McDonald said.

"Kids are not just sitting there getting information from the teacher and then regurgitating it," he said. "Rather they are using knowledge and skills they are acquiring, and transferring it to solve problems that are unfamiliar to them."

Classes will be more project-based. For example, said McDonald, students studying solar energy could be asked to design a program that reduces reliance on the electrical grid.

It calls for creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

Educators say the new standards will prepare students for success in college and in their careers. Classes will be relevant to the real world, and the new system will help communities compete in the global economy.

Arcadia Unified School District staff is learning the new standards at in-service training sessions and bringing back that information to share with other teachers, said Superintendent Joel Shawn.

The goal is to make sure what happens in the classrooms reflects the standards in time for students to be tested using the standards in 2014, he said.

"(The new standards) make students master a set of skills that will enable them to be successful in the 21st century. We believe what we are already doing will meet many of the Common Core standards," he said.

California has some of the highest standards in the nation, Shawn said, and what Arcadia does now is based on higher standards than the state requires.

The Glendora Unified School District will begin implementing the new standards for kindergarten and first grade in the coming school year, said Michelle Hunter, assistant superintendent for educational services.

"We want (kindergarten and first-graders) to grow up doing and experiencing Common Core," said Hunter. "They will be the first students who will be assessed using these standards."

The following school year, 2013-14, Glendora will implement Common Core in the second through fifth grades, as well as six through 12 literacy implementation.

The Common Core standards require cross-curriculum literacy for math and science, and for English and social studies. That means students will have a common vocabulary for math and science, and English and social studies as it relates to literacy, so they will be able to read and understand related texts.

The district will be "full bore" Common Core standards in 2014-15, Hunter said.

"There's a tremendous benefit to the Common Core, because it takes learning to a new depth and complexity," she said. "Kids have to be able to analyze and apply their learning."

Hunter said the California standards currently in place are very skills based and lack a strong alignment or connection between grades.

"Common Core is completely aligned with the end in mind," she said. "I think the end result will be providing students with skills for the workplace and for college."

The Hacienda La Puente School District began to transition to Common Core last year, said Jan Castle, the district's executive director of elementary schools.

But the change has presented the district with a dilemma, she said. Students this year and next will be tested based on the California standards. But in 2014-15, they will be tested on Common Core standards.

"We had to make sure we are prepared while still maintaining focus on the California standards that our students are accountable for," said Castle. "We can't just drop the California standards, because that's what we're accountable for. It has to be a gradual transition to the new assessment system and the Common Core standards."

The district is working on a multiyear plan of implementation.

Teachers also are beginning to change instruction in the classrooms "because we know that's the direction Common Core will be taking," she said.

"We're very excited about the new standards," said Castle. "(They are) a continuum all the way from kindergarten through 12th grade. That is a definite improvement."

Whittier Union High School District teachers began working on implementing the Common Core last year with summer professional development training that they then used in their classrooms to incorporate teaching strategies, Superintendent Sandra Thorstenson said in an email.

That work has continued this summer with five weeks of teacher training - one week for each subject area, she said.

When Whittier Union students return to the classroom on Aug. 29, teachers will continue the next phase of implementation of the Common Core - which will be used to assess incoming ninth-graders in 2014-15 - their junior year.

"We're excited about the Common Core State Standards because they validate our increased focus on developing our students' skills in critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving, communication, collaboration and digitally-based learning - all skills that we recognize as essential to their success in college and careers," said Thorstenson.

While California's standards are already much higher than most states across our country, the new Common Core State Standards require a deeper level of knowledge of English-language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and technical subjects, Thorstenson said.

"The Common Core calls for a paradigm shift in testing that we welcome," Thorstenson said. "New assessments in 2014-15 will go beyond multiple choice - there will no longer be one right answer and this will foster greater creativity in critical thinking and problem solving among our students."